The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-10-17
SINS FORBIDDEN HONEY.
MULTITUDES OF PEOPLE PERISH
BY INDUCING IN IT.

Head by Rev. Talmage-Stim ulating
Liquids in the Same Category De-
struction Turks in the Gaming Table
Stock ambling Also in the List
BROOKLYN, Oct 16.-"Seven hundred
and eighty one thousand three hundred and
sixteen dollars and twenty-four cents have
been paid cash down in this church for re-
lgious uses and Christian work during the
nineteen years of my ministry" said the
Rev. I. Dewitt Talmage, d. D., in answer
to the Misrepresentation that have been GO
ing through some of the religious papers de-
preciating the work of the Brooklyn Taber-
nacle After giving out the hymn:
One God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come
DIR. Talmage preached a sermon, the subject
of which was, Forbidden Honey the text
being l. Samuel xiv, As: II did bu6 taste
a little honey with the end of the rod
that was in my hand, and, To- | must die -
DR.. Talmage said:
The honey bee is most ingenious archi-
tect, a Christopher Wren among insects, a
geometer drawing hexagons and pentagons
a freebooter robbing the fields of pollen and
aroma, wondrous creature of God whose
biography, written by Huber and Swan
meridian, is an enchantment for any lover
of nature. Virgil celebrated the bee in his
fable of Aristaeus, and Moses, and Samuel,
and David, and Solomon, and jeremiah,
and Ezekiel, and st. John used the delica-
cies of bee manufacture as a Bible symbol
A miracle of formation is the bee: Five
eyes, two tongues, the outer having a sheath
of protection hairs on all sides of its tiny
body to brush up the particles of flowers, its
flight so straight that all the world
knows of the bee line The honeycomb is a
palace such as no one but God could plan
and the honey bee construct; its cells some
times a dormitOry, and sometimes store
house, and sometimes a cemetery. These
winged toilers first make eight strips of wax
and by their antenn@, which are to them
hammer, and chisel, and square, and
plumb-line, fashion them for use. Two and
two, these workers shape the wall. If an
accident happen they put up buttresses or
extra beams TO remedy the damage. When
about the year 1776 an insect, before un-
known, in the nighttime attacked the bee
hives all over Europe. and the men who
owned them were in vain trying to plan
something to keep out the invader that was
the terror of the bee-hives of the Continent,
it was found that everywhere the bees had
arranged for their own protection, and
built before their honeycombS an especial
wall of wax with portfolios through which
the bees might go to and fro, but not large
enough to admit the winged combatant,
called the Sphinx Atropos.
Do you know that the swarming of the
bees is divinely directedi The mother bee
starts for a new home, and because of this
the other bees of the hive get into an excite
ment, which raises the heat of the hive
some four degrees. and they must die unless
they leave their heated apartments, and
they follow the mother bee and alight on
the branch of a tree, and cling to each
other AM hold on until committee of two
or three have explored the region and found
the hollow of tree or rock not far off from
stream of water, and they here set up a
new colony, and ply their aromatic indus
tries and give themselves to the manufac-
ture of the saccharine edible. But who can
tell the chemistry of that mixture of sweet
ness, part of it the very life OF the bee and
part of it the life of the fieldss
Plenty of this luscious product was hang
ing in the woods of Betll-aven during the
time OF Saul and Jonathan. Their army
was in pursuit of an enemy that by Gods
command must be exterminated The
soldiery were positively forbidden to stop
If they disobeyed they were accused Com
ing through the woods they found place
where the bees had been busy, great honey
manufactory. Honey gathered in the hol-
low of the trees until it had overfowed upon
the ground in great profusion of sweetness
All the army obeyed orders and touched it
rot save Jonathan, apd hc I0J knowing inc
military ur3oI e-DouU abstinence dipped the
end of a stick he had in his hand into the can
died liquid and as, yellow, and brown, and
tempting, it glowed on the end of the stick
he put it tc his mouth and ate the honey.
Judgment fell upon him, and but for special
intervention he would have been slain. In
my text Jonathan announces his awful mis-
take: 81 did but taste a little honey with
the end of the rod that was in my hand
and, 10, must die" Alas, what multitudes
of people in all ages have been damaged by
forbidden honey, by which l mean tempta-
ton, delicious and attractive, but damaging
and destructive.
Literature fascinating but deathful comes
in this category. Where one good, honest,
healthful book is read now there are one
hundred made up of rhetorical trash CON
sumed with avidity. When the boy on the
cars comes through with pile of publica-
tions look over the titles and notice that
nine out of ten of the books are depicting
and injurious. All the way from New
York to Chicago or New Orleans notice
that Objectionable books dominate. Taste
for pure literature is poisoned by this scum
of the publishing house. Every book in
which sin triumphs over virtue, or in
which a glamour is thrown over dissipation,
or which leaves you at its last line with less
respect for the marriage institution and less
abhorrence for the paramour, is depres-
sion of your own moral character The
book binding may be attractive, and the
plot dramatic, and startling, and the style
of writing sweet as the honey that Jona-
than dipped up with his rod, but your best
interests forbid it, your moral safety for
bids it, your God forbids it, and one taste
of it may lead TO such bad results that you
may have to say at the close of the expert
ment or at the close of misimproved life
time: 81 did but taste little honey with
the rod that was in my hand, and, 10, /
must die"
Corrupt literature is doing more today
for the disruption of domestic life than any
other cause. Elopements, marital intrigues,
sly correspondence, fictitious II ,mes given
at post office windows, clandestine meetings
in parks, and at ferry gates, and in hotel
parlors, and conjugal perjuries are among
the damnable results. When a woman,
young or old, gets her head thoroughly
stuffed with the modern novel she Is IN APP
palling peril. But some one will say: "The
heroes are so adroity knavish. and the per-
sous so bewitchingly untrue and the turn
Of the story so exquisite, and all the charac-
ters so enrapturing, | cannot quit them.n
My brother, my sister, you can find STYLES
of literature just as charming that win ele-
yate and purify, and ennoble, and Chris
tianize while they please The devil does
not own all the honey There is wealth
of good books coming forth from our pub
fishing houses that leaves no excuse for the